Month: April 2017

The International University of Monaco (IUM) has announced the Loox project as the winners of the 2017 Mark Challenge, which saw 75 teams from 16 different countries submit a luxury retail business proposal “to leave their mark”.

The fourth edition was held at the Novotel in Monaco on April 25, and the seven final teams, from Milan, Monaco, Rome, Munich, Germany and London, presented their business ideas to a jury of six professionals, which included Jury President, Nelson Piquet Jr, Formula E World Champion, Michel Bouquier of Monaco Private Label and Veronica Sartori, Burberry Merchandising Director.

After a lengthy deliberation, Loox of the London Business School was declared the winner, and they also picked up the prize for the best entrepreneurial project.

In second was IUM’s Elysian, while third place was awarded to Estia de Politecnico di Milano.

The “Tailored Men” project by IUM won the public award.

Loox wins €2000, as well as consulting, marketing and communication offered by the Mark Challenge sponsors – Money Mail Me, Ambra Ventures, Ingenium Media and Ouiphi.

As winner of the “Best Social Entrepreneur”, Loox will also receive a prize from another sponsor, Minaco Impact.

In closing the competition, the “The Mark Challenge 2017” team acknowledged the DTF Group and MFO Sarl for their support, and IUM warmly thanked participants, the jury, the guests and the sponsors who attended the event.

The IUM is already promoting the 2018 edition of The Mark Challenge, which will be the fifth anniversary edition.

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Bernard Arnault has offered to buy the 26 percent of Christian Dior that he and his family don’t already own for about €12.1 billion. His aim is to merge Christian Dior’s couture operation into the LVMH luxury goods empire, he said.

The Arnault family is prepared offer a mix of cash and Hermes International stock that values Paris-based Dior at €260 a share, a bid that is 15 percent above the stock price at the end of business on Monday, April 24.

The Arnault family owns about 47 percent of LVMH, whose full name is LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Arnault said that the offer “illustrate the commitment of my family group and emphasises its confidence in the long-term perspectives of LVMH and its brands”.

Dior investors also can choose all cash or all Hermes stock in the deal.

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Gilles Tonelli, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, received Lord Edward Llewellyn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, at a luncheon held at Monte Carlo Bay.

HE Mr Pavel Latushka, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus; HE Mr Tilak Ranaviraja, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka and HE Mr Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Sudan, also presented their Letters of credentials to the Sovereign Prince in the morning.

Lord Llewellyn, was appointed Personal Adviser to the Governor of Hong Kong in 1992, having worked for four years in the Conservative Party’s Research Service. In 1997, he joined the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo, where he became Director in 2005, after spending three years in the office of the European Commissioner for External Relations. For five years, until 2010, he was personal Chief of Staff to Prime Minister David Cameron, also an Old Etonian. He became Ambassador to France in November 2016.

Mr Latushka joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) in 1995 and then joined the Consulate General of Belarus in Poland as Vice-Consul. In 2000, he became Director of the Department of Information and Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, and was promoted Ambassador to Poland in 2002. From 2009 to 2012, he was Minister of Culture.

Mr Ranaviraja began his career in the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and was appointed Director of the Ministry of Public Administration. In 1983, he joined the MAE as Director General and then joined the Embassy of Sri Lanka in the United States. From 1995 to 2004, he held the position of Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Media and Communication, Health and Indigenous Medicine, Social Security, and the Mahaweli River Basin Development.

Mr Ali Osman joined the Foreign Ministry in 1980, where he held various positions, and in 1996 he was appointed Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Sudan to the United Nations. In 2001, he was promoted to Director of the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He then held the post of Ambassador successively in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Jamaica, Cuba and the United Nations in New York. In 2014, he became Director General of the Departments of Environment, Human Rights and Water at the MAE, then Director General of the Departments of Bilateral and Regional Relations.

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According to the World Health Organisation, one child still dies of malaria every two minutes, mainly in Africa. Faced with this, the Government of the Principality, through its Directorate of International Cooperation, is taking part in the fight against this pandemic by supporting research, prevention and care for the sick.

The Monegasque Cooperation supports the World Health Organisation in its drive to eliminate malaria in eight countries in Southern and Eastern Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Madagascar, South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Zanzibar, and Zimbabwe. Help is also being given to the WHO National Malaria Control Centre in Madagascar, built in particular thanks to the contribution of Monaco.

In research, the Directorate of International Cooperation supports the Medicines for Malaria Venture Foundation, which is working to develop a new anti-malarial drug, especially for children. The Monegasque Cooperation is also financing a study carried out by the University of Rome La Sapienza to improve the epidemiological surveillance system for malaria in Burkina Faso.

Although prevention and control measures led to a reduction in malaria mortality rates of more than 29 percent worldwide between 2010 and 2015, nearly 430,000 deaths still occur each year, and more than 300,000 children under the age of five are victims.

For more information see who.int/campaigns/malaria-day/2017/event/en

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Speeding drivers are about to face a major onslaught as France starts to install 400 “smart” cameras on its motorway network. Each of these devices will be able to identify up to a dozen vehicles at a time over four lanes, and will be able to tell if drivers are not only speeding, but on the phone or not wearing seat belts.

Making matters worse – or better – is the fact that the operation of the cameras and the enforcement of penalties is about to be outsourced to authorised service providers. While gendarmes have not been slow to issue tickets in the past, the profit incentive for private companies is likely to see a major increase in the number of enforcement notices issued, according to motoring organisations on both sides of the Channel.

From May 6, there will be no escape for UK drivers. The DVLA is cooperating with the French authorities in providing the names and addresses of culpable drivers – or at least the official keepers of vehicles caught by the speed traps. Asked if British drivers could just ignore these notices, the RAC has said it is “waiting to see”.

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